Boulder (Colo.) Community Health has assembled a team to address concerns from patients about contracting communicable diseases in the waiting area of its east Boulder campus, according to a Daily Camera report.
The east Boulder campus was recently renovated. Patients have become frustrated, saying the waiting areas for registration and the emergency department are too close together (they share a door), putting some patients at risk of contracting an infectious disease while waiting, according to the report.
"The only time we run into problems with the ER waiting area is when it's full and people who are actively ill are waiting in the waiting area," Beth Reasoner, BCH's director of quality and public safety, told the Daily Camera.
A hospital spokesman told the paper BCH is taking the complaints "seriously." The team tasked with addressing the issue has decided to put more signs up in the area, directing patients to the right place to check in, in addition to reminding patients to use hand sanitizer and masks to help prevent disease spread.